801 posts
Metal AI chip on a dark circuit board, with large 'AI' and 'Artificial Intelligence' text
View Post
  • 5 min

DTC Brands Shift Focus from Performance Marketing to Building Strong Brand Identity Amid AI Advances

📈 Direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands are shifting focus from performance marketing towards brand development. AI-driven performance marketing is becoming commoditized, yet brand visibility remains scarce and valuable. Ops and tech, like commerce platforms and cloud services, are commodities. Success depends on building brand equity through editorial content and partnerships, which are defensible and add to AI's data corpus. A cultural shift is necessary for companies to prioritize brand metrics alongside performance dashboards.
View Post
Share
Silhouette of a man in a hat with a briefcase walking away as digital bits, crosshairs, and a 'Personalisation' sign swirl in a smoky street.
View Post
  • 18 min

Google Abandons $2 Billion Privacy Sandbox Effort; Less Than 2% of Advertisers Adopted the Alternative

📶 Google abandoned a six-year, multi-billion-dollar attempt to replace third-party cookies in October 2025, with less than 2% of programmatic advertisers integrating the alternative. Disney was fined $2.75 million in February 2026 for privacy violations. By 2026, only 35% of users opted into Apple's App Tracking Transparency. A 2026 Attentive survey found brands using personalization were 3.5 times more likely to see improved performance. However, 69% of US consumers have abandoned transactions due to data privacy concerns.
View Post
Share
Desk setup with two potted plants, an open MacBook Pro showing a slide that reads 'Driving your business,' and a white iMac nearby with papers and books on the wooden desk.
View Post
  • 0 min

The Work Outlasts the Title

By Rahul Patel, AAHOA Chairman (2026-2027) Ten years ago, Today’s Hotelier published its first issue under the leadership of Past Chairmen Jay (Jimmy) Patel (2015-16) and Bharat (Bruce) Patel (2016-17). In a joint editorial, they wrote: “Where our predecessors were united by nationality and culture, the AAHOA of today rests upon the bedrock of unified […] The post The Work Outlasts the Title appeared first on Today's Hotelier.
View Post
Share